What is Symboliser?
Symboliser runs quietly in the background and monitors text selections across all Windows applications. When you select text by dragging with your mouse, a small floating button appears. Click it to open a symbol panel that displays your text with communication symbols above each recognised word.
Designed for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), education, and accessibility, Symboliser supports a range of symbol sets, text-to-speech with word highlighting, printing, and customisable settings.
Symboliser is installed locally on Windows and operates entirely without an internet connection. All text processing happens on your machine. No text, personal information, or usage data is ever sent to the internet or shared with third parties.
Key Features
System-Wide Symbol Overlay
Select text in any application — browsers, Word, email, Notepad — and instantly see communication symbols above each word.
Text-to-Speech
Read text aloud with Windows voices. Words are highlighted one by one as they are spoken, with automatic scrolling.
Bundled Symbol Sets
Choose from Bliss, Mulberry, PiCom Classic, PiCom Cartoon, PiCom Cute, or PiCom Realistic — over 26,000 symbols in total.
Smart Word Matching
Three-tier matching: direct lookup, lemmatisation (running → run), and synonym matching with 692,000+ entries.
Print with Symbols
Print symbolised text with images positioned above each word. Perfect for worksheets, communication boards, and learning materials.
Custom Symbol Sets
Load your own symbol libraries from ZIP files. Supports PNG, SVG, JPG, GIF, and WEBP image formats.
Bundled Symbol Sets
| Symbol Set | Symbols | Format | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bliss | 6,417 | SVG | Bliss Symbols — a semantic graphic language using geometric shapes |
| Mulberry | 3,436 | SVG | Clear, colourful pictographic symbols widely used in AAC |
| PiCom Classic | 2,388 | PNG | PiCom Classic — clean, simple pictographic communication symbols |
| PiCom Cartoon | 2,600 | PNG | Friendly cartoon-style symbols |
| PiCom Cute | 1,888 | PNG | Soft, rounded style for younger users |
| PiCom Realistic | 10,054 | PNG | Detailed photorealistic symbol images — the largest set |
Symbol Matching
Symboliser uses a three-tier system to find symbols for the widest possible range of words:
| Tier | Method | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Direct | Exact word lookup in the symbol library | "cat" → cat symbol |
| 2. Lemmatisation | Reduce to base form, then look up | "running" → "run" → run symbol |
| 3. Synonym | Find a synonym that has a symbol (692,000+ entries) | "joyful" → "happy" → happy symbol |
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Esc | Close settings panel or symbol panel |
| Ctrl+P | Print symbolised text |
| Ctrl+C | Copy selected text |
| Ctrl+A | Select all text |
| Arrow keys, Home, End, Page Up/Down | Navigate within the panel |
System Requirements
Operating System
Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
Runtime
.NET 8 Desktop Runtime (x64)
Browser Engine
Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime
Speech
Windows voice (at least one installed)
Technical Specifications
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Version | 1.0.0 |
| Architecture | x64 (64-bit) |
| Framework | .NET 8.0 for Windows |
| Speech Engine | System.Speech (Windows) |
| Installer | MSI (Windows Installer), signed |
| Install Location | C:\Program Files\Sensory Symbols\Symboliser |
| User Data | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Symboliser (settings & preferences) |
| Bundled Symbols | 26,783 images across multiple libraries |
| Synonym Dictionary | 692,000+ entries |
| Internet Connection | Not required — fully offline |
| Data Sharing | None — all processing is local |